1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fishing lures in general with the present invention particularly directed towards realistic looking and feeling fishing lures manufactured of soft resilient materials. The lures according to the invention include improvements in self-coloring and transparency which makes these particular lures appear natural and feel like real food to a striking fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To ascertain past art, a patent search was conducted in the classes and subclasses including 43/42.25, 42.26, 42.53, and 52.45. Patents examined included the U.S. Pat. Nos. as follows:
2,909,862; 3,579,895; 3,690,028; 4,074,455; 4,227,332; 4,773,181; 4,777,759; 4,790,100; and 4,831,764.
Those patents considered most pertinent to our invention include:
1. The flexible fishing lure disclosed by Green, Sr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,100. dated Dec. 13, 1988, in which a pliable hollow body fishing lure has trailing ends and side attachments which move realistically when pulled through the water. Although the Green, Sr. device has an insertable core member, it is not designed for color changing either by inserts or material of manufacture
2. A hook and a hand tied ball of fluorescent yarn is shown in a lure patent granted on Sept. 12, 1972, Walker, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,028. The Walker, Jr. lure is designed to glow and simulate real life fish food.
3. Simulated fish eggs are shown in the Radden U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,181 dated Sept. 27, 1988. His eggs are structured of yarn strands which expand into spherical shapes Different colored yarn simulates egg nucleus to make them appear natural. No color changing materials are used.
4. A moldable soft plastic bodied lure is shown in Williams, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,455, issued on Feb. 21, 1978. The lure uses water bubbles in closely spaced pockets on the surface to simulate a glistening scaly appearance. Tail inserts give the lure the appearance of being shinny and swimming when pulled through the water for attracting fish.
Although the search produced a variety of crank baits and other fishing lures, the foregoing appeared most pertinent to our invention. Some crank baits using dissolvable pellets for making color changes in a plastic body are shown in other patents and are available in the market place. However, lures like ours using a particular material combination to produce a particular change in the lure appearance were not seen.